Wednesday, February 22, 2012

In the Suki series I introduced devices that I called "gogs", which were eyeglasses that served as the user's communication and computing devices. A virtual image floated in front of the user and they interacted with it by "touching the air" in front of them, manipulating a virtual input device. They also had earbuds for audio. People would walk about jabbering, flailing their fingers in the air looking like dementia victims as they communicated, worked, and entertained themselves. Something like this, but in the 2030s:

(Oakleys)

When my character developer decided to work on a fanfiction story, she transferred this technology into contact lenses. No doubt that will be reality long before the time-frame where the stories take place.

They are in late prototype stages of wearable glasses
that look similar to thick-rimmed glasses that “normal people” wear.
However, these provide a display with a heads up computer interface.
There are a few buttons on the arms of the glasses, but otherwise, they
could be mistaken for normal glasses. Additionally, we are not sure of
the technology being employed here, but it is likely a transparent LCD
or AMOLED display such as the one demonstrated below:
In addition, we have heard that this device is not an
“Android peripheral” as the NYT stated. According to our source, it
communicates directly with the Cloud over IP. Although, the “Google
Goggles” could use a phone’s Internet connection, through Wi-Fi or a
low power Bluetooth 4.0.
The use-case is augmented reality that would tie into Google’s
location services. A user can walk around with information popping up
and into display -Terminator-style- based on preferences, location and
Google’s information.
Therefore, these things likely connect to the Internet and have GPS. They also likely run a version of Android.

Since then, we have learned much more regarding Google’s glasses…

Our tipster has now seen a prototype and said it looks something like Oakley Thumps (below).
These glasses, we heard, have a front-facing camera used to gather
information and could aid in augmented reality apps. It will also take
pictures. The spied prototype has a flash —perhaps for help at night, or
maybe it is just a way to take better photos. The camera is extremely
small and likely only a few megapixels.

The heads up display (HUD) is only for one eye and on the side. It is
not transparent nor does it have dual 3D configurations, as previously
speculated.
One really cool bit: The navigation system currently used is a head
tilting-to scroll and click. We are told it is very quick to learn and
once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and
almost indistinguishable to outside users.

I/O on the glasses will also include voice input and output, and we
are told the CPU/RAM/storage hardware is near the equivalent of a
generation-old Android smartphone. As a guess, we would speculate
something like 1GHz ARM A8, 256MB RAM and 8GB of storage? In any case,
it will also function as a smartphone.
Perhaps most interesting is that Google is currently deciding on how
it wants to release these glasses, even though the product is still a
very long way from being finished. It is currently a secret with only a
few geeky types knowing about it, and Google is apparently unsure if it
will have mass-market appeal. Therefore, the company is considering
making this a pilot program, somewhat like the Cr-48 Chromebooks last
year.
Yes, Google might actually release this product as beta-pilot program to people outside of Google—and soon.
FYI Motorola’s got something cool in this area brewing as well (thanks commenter!).